[h3][color=lightblue]TEAM RUTABAGA[/color][/h3]
Meryn had been expecting some sort of pop or bang when she'd grabbed the garland – not a full on [i]boom[/i]. Ears ringing, she jumped back on reflex as papers scattered around her, but the branch she was sitting on was narrow and trembling. Throwing her hand back for support, she misjudged how much room she had and her palm slipped off the branch, rough bark slashing her skin. Meryn's eyes widened as her body tipped sideways, the extra weight from her bag and the cage throwing her off even more. But with her hobbies, Meryn wouldn't have survived long if she didn't have quick reflexes, and before she had completely tumbled down, she dropped her legs over the side of the branch. Her body jolted as her legs were suddenly supporting her weight, hooked around the branch. Her bag slipped from her shoulder and it and the rusted iron cage fell to the ground, narrowly missing Emma, the woodcutter, and that odd silver-haired girl who always seemed to pay too much attention to her. 

Letting out a sigh – or maybe a huff – Meryn scrunched her eyebrows together. Ok, so that hadn't been her smartest move. At least there wasn't anything breakable in her bag. That cage was another matter, though. Refocusing, she brought her dangling arms up to the branch to start pulling herself back up and praying it didn't decide it was too weak to support her weight before she got up. Her right hand stung as she grabbed, reminding her of the scrapes there, but she gritted her teeth and ignored the pain. She was about to start clambering up when her movement sent a soft jingling sound through the leaves. 

Meryn paused, forgetting her position, and looked up. There, hidden in the cleaves and scattered bits of paper, was a sparkling silver bell. It seemed so delicate and… [i]pure[/i], nestled up in the tree like this. Meryn's hands released the branch and she stretched over to the bell. It was tied to the tree with a shining line of thread. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to fiddle with the tight not. Why were there all these things stuck up in the tree? And how was the bell so shiny and clean still? Shouldn't it have rusted or gotten dirty out here? Unless they'd been put out here recently. Meryn's mind drifted back to the paper she [i]probably[/i] shouldn't have grabbed as she glanced back at the shredded remains of the garland, her hands still fiddling with the knot. Whoever had done this wasn't going to be very pleased with her handiwork. A thread of guilt ran through her, but she was too curious to give it much thought.

She was suddenly ripped back to reality when something with claws, wings, and a tail swooped past her face. What happened next was a blur of leaves, claws, wings, and agitated chirps, and the branch decided it wasn't going to tolerate her any longer. With a [i]crack[/i], Meryn found herself falling. Instinct overtook panic as she flailed in open air, looking for anything to grab hold of. If nothing else, she had to get herself in a position to fall correctly, and not on her [i]head.[/i] Her hand found something long, slender, and scaly, and she grabbed hold, hearing a shriek in response. The next thing she knew, the forest canopy was much farther away from her than it should've been, and her back hit the ground, knocking the wind out of her. 

[i]Teleporting[/i]… That, she hadn't expected. 

Sound was the first thing to trickle back to her, and then a blurry, washed-out form of vision. Her sight was clouded, her ears rang, and she was sore all over, but she couldn't comprehend any of that because of the way her chest seemed to be convulsing. She was suffocating. Hollow coughs wracked her body and she tried to take in air, her eyes watering. After a few moments, relief finally came, and Meryn gasped in air. [i]Damn[/i], she hurt. Gingerly, pulled up her arms to push herself to a sitting position, gritting her teeth against the pain. Fire rocketed through her side and she winced, looking down at herself. 

Meryn had fallen on top of her bag, near Emma and the two odd ones. But more importantly, she'd fallen on the iron cage. The  metal had broken in places from the impact, warping the cage's shape and creating small, spear-like pieces of metal. Five of them were buried in her skin, where her waist met her back. Meryn closed her eyes and breathed in what could only be called exasperation. Opening her eyes again, she raised her non-injured hand and carefully gripped the cage. She breathed once more, steeling her expression. Then with a grimace, she yanked it out. Each point had only been in her maybe an inch at most, but she still winced at the fresh blood leaking out of her. Well that sucked. Her hand pressed over the holes in an attempt to stop the bleeding, and with her other she grabbed the cage and tried to throw it away from her. She could only manage to toss it a few inches in her state. 

She'd spent less than an hour Outside and thus far she'd been brushed off, nearly deafened, attacked, teleported, winded, and impaled. This adventure was not going well. She blew her hair out of her face with a huff and looked back up at the canopy, glaring at the splintered remains of the tree branch, still hanging stubbornly onto the tree.

For a moment, Meryn was brought back to when she'd been a tiny thing, younger than Amelia. The first time she'd tried to jump from one roof to another. The result had been miserable. And bloody. But little Meryn had survived, pushed herself up, and glared at the roofs above her, tears in her eyes from the pain. And now the Outside loomed around her like a cityscape, daring her to try again.

Meryn couldn't help the way her pale green eyes lit up at the challenge, bright and mischievous. With a smirk growing at the corner of her mouth, she looked around her, trying her best to ignore the people who'd witnessed her inelegant fall (and teleportation?). She glanced at the leaves and papers scattered around her. She was still curious about the papers and their odd markings (and explosions) but she stilled when she found what she was looking for. Lying not a foot away from her was the odd cat-dragon thing that had attacked her. Its eyes blinked open in a daze, but it otherwise didn't move. It was probably just as winded from the fall as she was. Again, curiosity mixed with guilt. But then she remembered it was this little monstrosity's fault that she'd fallen. Of course, she'd have probably been in much worse shape if it hadn't cut her fall in half with its teleporting. 

She struggled to pull her bag out from under her, wincing at the pain. When she had it in her lap, she pulled out a bit of dried meat and tossed it so it landed between her and the creature. Smelling the mixture of the meat and her blood, it blinked a bit more and turned its head towards the food. It lumbered up on still clumsy legs and waddled a few steps, only to plop itself down again in front of the meat. As though lifting its head to eat was too much effort, its tongue curled out to pull the meat into its mouth. Meryn watched it with a raised eyebrow. That had taken so much effort, she didn't know if she should applaud it. 

Her smile grew and she gave a little shake of her head – bad move as the dizziness came back – and went back to searching the ground. Her eyes lit up when she found what she was looking for. The sparkling silver bell, still tied to a leafy twig. Meryn picked it up, careful not to get any blood on it, and held it up to the light.

[@Skittles][@Diggerton][@Darinthus]